Tobacco handling and preparing



Nov. 14, 1939. R E RUNDE| L 2.179.644

TOBACCO HANDLING AND PREPARING Filed Nov. 25, 1954 f 5 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR 75, awn 4% TORNEY Nov. 14, 1939. R. E. RUNDELL 2.179.644

TOBACCO HANDLING AND PREPARING Filed Nov. '23, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 v.r MHIWIHM 2 My! 111111111 a m-c-N-r" WWI/I, lllllllllllllllllflmllll|||Illllllllllllllllllllll T11 INVENTOZ Nov. 14, 1939.R, ERUNDELL 2.179.644

TOBACCO HANDLING AND PREPARING Filed Nov. 23, 1934 s Sheets-Sheet :5

L! I I v Patented Nov. 14, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,179,644TOBACCO HANDLING AND PREPARING Application November 23, 1934, Serial No.754,496

46 Claims.

This invention relates to tobacco handling and preparing, particularlyto various steps in the preparation of shredded tobacco ready formanufacture into cigarettes, from whole 'tobacco leaves,

Heretofore in preparing cigarette tobacco, the tobacco leaves haveusually been stemmed without spreading or uncurling the laminae of theleaves and the bunched and crumpled leaves, having their lengthsextending in various directions have subsequently been fed into a.cutter of the. guillotine type, in which the tobacco is compressed to amore or less solid column or cake from which a thin slice is cut to makethe desired shreds. Since the leaves before being compressed arecrumpled up and sometimes doubled on themselves and sometimes tangled orropy and because their lengths lie at random rather than parallel to thecutter blade, the shreds are relatively short, frequently sharply kinkedand are more easily broken. In the finished cigarette this sometimesresults in short shreds which may spill out of the end of the cigaretteand cause loose ends as well as crumbs in the mouth of the smoker.

Because the leaves are compressed, the tobacco may lose volume andresiliency so that the shreds do not occupy the volume they wouldotherwise occupy and more tobacco by weight is required to get acigarette of the same feel or density, than is required of uncompressedtobacco. Also the compressing of the damp leaves often renders themdarker in color.

It is therefore one of the main objects of the present invention tocombine with the shredding operation a leaf opening and/or stemmingoperation, in such a manner that the leaves are delivered in optimumcondition and position for best results in shredding and particularlyshredding without compression by inter-engaging gangs of rotatingshearing disks.

The invention however is applicable to the guillotine type of cutter forthe purpose of improving the cutting thereby through improved feeding ofthe leaves thereto, since it has been found that .proper spreading andpositioning of the leaves also results in better shreds with theguillotine type of cutter.

Thus, a principal purpose of the invention is to deliver the leaves tothe cutter relatively flat and outspread or open as compared with thecrumpled and uniform condition in which domestic tobaccos are ordinarilyfed to cutters.

It is also an important object of the invention to make improved use ofan intermeshing disk.

type of cutter through which the loose tobacco leaves are fed in a thinstream, without compression, for the purpose of delivering long looseresilient shreds which will have 'maximum cigarette filling effect for agiven quantity of tobacco.

One of the principal difliculties in using a cutter of this type lies infeeding the leaves to the cutter at a reasonably uniform rate withoutbunches which choke the gang disk cutter and without substantialintervals during which few or no leaves are cut, decreasing theefiiciency and output of the cutter, and in feeding the leaves into thiscutter in a condition and position which will retain and add to theadvantages of this type of cutter.

For this purpose one of the features of the invention istheopening'and/or cleaning of the leaves prior to cutting. Anotherrelated feature is the delivery of the leaves to the cutter in a flatoutspread and in certain circumstances, booked or 'shingledcondition toprovide optimum feeding conditions for this type of cutter. This type offeeding is particularly valuable for the intermeshing disk type cutterbecause of the need for a thin relatively uniform stream of tobacco, acondition diflicult to attain with the bunched and tangled domesticleaves delivered from the conventional stemmer. So far as'I am aware,the present arrangementafiords the first practical one for feeding largeleaf American type stemmed tobaccos to this type of cutter.

It is also one of the principal objects of the invention to provide formore efiicient and uniform feeding of the stemmed leaves to the cutter,one of the purposes of' the present invention being to make only onehand feeding necessary for cleaning, stemming, cutting and blending.

An important feature of the invention lies in the cleaning from theleaves of sand, dust'and grit prior to cutting. This avoids one of themain causes of wear on the cutters.

Another important object of the invention relates to the manufacture ofblended cigarette tobacco, this object being to blend tobacco leavesautomatically and more systematically and uniformly than heretofore toproduce a continuous supply of uniformly blended tobacco shreds in theproper condition for use in cigarette machines from unstemmed leaves ofthe different kinds of tobacco to be blended. I

One of the most important objects of the invention is to so prepare"cigarette tobacco that by reason of the greater flufliness and volumeof the shreds per unit of weight, more and better cigarettes 'canbe madefrom a pound of tobacco than hitherto. Since cigarettes are judged bytheir firmness or plumpness of filling or "feel" rather than theirweight, by so treating the tobacco as to produce the same or greaterplumpness or firmness with less tobacco, it/is possible to save anappreciable percentage by weight of tobacco over that previously used.The importance of a saving of. even a small percentage of the tobaccoused will be appreciated when it is considered that the value of thetobacco used in the United States yearly is in the tens of millions ofdollars, and that in some countries the cost of the prepared tobacco atthe factory is over three dollars a pound. The fiuflier, more resilienttobacco also results in a more even burning cigarette,

Because of the longer and flufiler shreds, firmer ends will result andthere will be less tendency for shorts to fall out and less likelihoodof annoying crumbs of tobacco coming out in the mouth of the smoker.

, Another important object of the invention is to prepare tobaccoefficiently by utilizing one manual feeding operation of a plurality ofthe tobacco preparing operations as for instance two or more of thefollowing preparing operations spreading and cleaning, stemming,blending and shredding-as well as the additional conditioning, casing,or flavoring and cooling operations. The importance of this will berealized when it is pointed out that the initial feeding of theindividual leaves is the main labor consuming operation in connectionwith tobacco treatment in accordance with the invention.

The stemming machines herein used are of an improved design, disclosedin U. S. Patents Nos. 1,864,765, June 28, 1932, and 1,916,018, June 27,1933, both to R. E. Rundell and G. E. Hagquist, and a co-pendingapplication #677,336, filed June22, 1933, by R. E. Rundell and G. E.Hagquist, now Patent 1,981,470, granted Nov. 20, 1934; reference towhich is made 'for'further details, the leaf handling mechanisms ofwhich are such that the stemmed leaves on their individual deliverybelts are freed of dust, etc., opened flat and are traveling endwise.Certain features illustrated herein, relating to the combination ofstemming and blending mechanism, not claimed specifically in thispatent, have been made the subject-matter of a divisional application,Serial N0. 271,959, filed on May 5, 1939.

One of the main features of the invention is based on the discovery thatthe leaves as delivered from this type of stemmer are ideallyconditioned and arranged for shredding.

With the above and other objects not specifically mentioned in view, theinvention consists in certain constructions and combinations which willbe hereinafter fully described and then pointed out in theclaimshereunto appended.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is an enlarged 'side elevation, partly in section, taken on linel-l of- Fig. 2 showing a system for carrying out the invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of an assembly of certain parts of the systemshown in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail side elevation partly in 'section on line3-4 of Fig. 2, showing a transfer device; I

Fig. 4 is an endelevation on line H of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan view on line 5-5 of 3; Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail endelevation on line 5-6 of Fig. 2, showing the delivery of the stemmed vuniform shreds.

leaves to the shredding machine and the delivery of the shredded tobaccoto the drying tower;

Fig. 7 is a plan view showing the arrangement of the system when asingle stemming unit is employed;

Fig. 8 is a plan view showing a modified arrangement of a number ofstemming units for crosswise delivery of the stemmed leaves onto thecollector belt;

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of a modification of the improved systememploying a guillotine cutter and casing apparatus;

Fig. 10 is an enlarged .detail view partly in section of the grippingand cleaning means shown in Fig. 1;

Figs. 11 and 12 are details in sectional side and front elevationrespectively, of the stemming unit employed in connection with theimproved system.

Generally stated, in carrying the invention into effect by the apparatusand method selected for illustration, there is provided a tobacco leafshredder together with means for feeding outspread leaves thereto inpredetermined position relative to their direction of movement into thecutter and preferably this cutter consists of rotating gangs ofintermeshing disks and the outspread leaves are delivered theretoedgewise and endwise and without compression to produce long Preferablya stemmer is provided, together with mechanism for advancing the stemmedleaves to said shredder. Preferably also a leaf conditioner for varyingthe moisture content of the leaves acts on the stemmed leaves beforeshredding. Preferably also, means are provided for cleaning, and/orspreading the leaves and for retaining the outspread. condition of theleaves until shredded. In one preferred means to form a unitary tobaccotreating system.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, a number of stemmingunits Ui, U2, etc., are arranged in a group and the unstemmed leaves Lof each kind of grade of tobacco to be' used in a given blend are fed toone or more of these units according to their proportion in the blend.Thus, if five parts of one kind of tobacco are to be blended with twoparts of a second kind and with one part of a third kind, eight stemmingmachines would form one group, five of which would handle the first kindof tobacco, two the second kind and one the third kind, or certain ofthe' machines might be operated at a different speed side by side withthe butts on the right (Fig. 1

and the lengths all extending approximately in the same direction ontheside delivery belts In, which belts may be arranged to feed the leavesin synchronism with the movement of grippers 3 to deliver the leaf buttto each gripper, as illusr to requirement.

trated in Patent No. 1,916,018, above referred to.

From the table I the leaves are carried by chains 2 having spacedgrippers 3 advancing the leaves by their butt ends between them throughsuction chambers 4 wherein a stream of air is directed from the stemoutwardly toward the edges of the leaves to spread, straighten out andclean the same. The suction chambers of all machines of the group areconnected to suction pipes 5 and 6.

The outspread, cleaned and relatively flat leaves are forwarded on thebottom loops of suction belts I and are then dropped upon belts 8running in the opposite direction to deliver the leaves tip first to.the stemming unit. A valve 9 in suction pipe 10 periodically shuttingoff the suction in chambers H of belts I at the proper moment, effectsthe transfer. The belts 8 together with companion belts l2 guide theleaves into the stemming mechanism l3 which removes the stems andpermits the stemmed leaves L to be carried away, tip first, by anendless "delivery belt l4 running in the forward direction on whicn theleaves are delivered in outspread condition. The chains 2, and belts I,8, l2 and M of each stemming unit are synchronously driven in ansuitable manner as by a motor I5.

To collect thestemmed leaves from the different stemming units UI, U2,(Fig. 2), the leaves are delivered by the belt l4 of each unit onto arow of spaced rollers l6 driven in the direction of the delivery belt bysprockets I! connected by a chain ill with a sprocket IS on drive shaftof belt [4, see Figs. 3 to 5. Between these rollers two rows of parallelfingers or prongs 21 mounted diametrically on a horizontal shaft 22 areintermittently revolved one-half turn by a sprocket 23. The shaft 22 ofthe fingers 2| is set at such an angle that the leaves picked up by arow of fingers from the rollers 16, upon one-half revolution of shaft22, in which the ends of the fingers describe the paths 24 shown in Fig.4, point in the direction of the collector belt 25. As the fingers 2|dwell in their turned position, the leaf drops upon the collector belt25, .which is at a distance below the rollers l6 sumcient to clear thereturn paths 24 of the fingers, and thus the leaves are forwardedendwise in a single stream to the shredder unit, presently to bedescribed.

The speed of collector belt 25 may be adjusted so that the leavesdeposited upon it by the fingers 2! form a single layer with spacesbetween the leaves, or a continuous overlapping layer, or separate booksof stacked leaves, as desired. In each case if blending is desired, byproportioning the output of the different stemmer units, fed withdifferent varieties of leaves, the leaves willbe blended in the desiredproportion after the belt has passed all stemming units; in an exact andsystematic fashion instead of being pitch-forked together in a more orless haphazard fashion, as has been the common practice.

It should be understood that the blending arrangement maybe dispensedwith in some cigarette factories or be unnecessary when unblendedtobacco is used, in which case the'arrangement just described isemployed with the same kind of leaves to feed from more than onestemming unit into a single stream for delivery to the cutter, or thatillustrated in Fig. 7 may be employed.

The leaves are carried endwise by belt 25 through a chamber 26 in whichthey are conditioned by steam or by dry or moist air, accordingOrdinarily dry air is used because somewhat less moisture is generallyre quired for disk cutting than for stemming. From 'the end roller 21the leaves are delivered outspread and fiat as received from the stemmerendwise and edgewise, to the shredder. While the leaves might bedelivered otherwise, as directly from belt 25 into the cutters, toinsure greater control of the leaves as they pass into the cutters,

'the leaves pass over a perforated suction roll 28 (Fig. 6) rotated bysprocket 29 around a stationary suction chamber 30 connected to asuction pipe 3| and having a peripheral opening towards the leafdelivered from belt 25.

The drum 2B guides the oncoming leaves into the shredding mechanismwhich consists of two gangs of inter-engaging or inter-meshing circularshearing disks 32 rotating in opposite directions on parallel shafts32by means of intermeshing (gears 33 driven by a sprocket 34. While theleading portions of the leaves are being shredded, the leaves are heldsomewhat taut and straight by a roller 35 bearing against drum 28 andholding back the trailing portion of the leaves.

The shredding unit is not shown in detail since details thereof do notform a part of the present invention but is of the general typedisclosed in the patent to Korbuly #1,485,418, March 4, 1924. Th? s typeof shredder has a number of advantages some of which have also beenreferred to in connection with the statement of objects of thisinvention, in that the leaves are not compressed so as to lose theirresiliency as well as their color and if'the leaves are properly fedthereto, can

produce long uniform, relatively fluffy shreds. This type of shredderrequires uniform feeding of the tobacco in a very thin layer for bestresults.

Hitherto so. far as known to me, no feed supplying leaves in conditionto take advantage of the capabilities of this type of shredder has beenavailable for feeding the large American type tobacco leaves which cometo the stemmery or tobacco factory in a tangled, crumpled mass,generally in hogsheads. When leaves in this condition are fed into ashredder of this type, the

disks cut across so many doubled, folded and crumpled leaf portions thatrelatively short shreds are produced, and moreover the leaves ordinarilypass into the cutters crosswise so that shreds can be no longer than thewidth of the leaf. Owing to the condition of the leaf referred to,shreds are ordinarily much shorter and, due to the kinks therein, oftenbroken. Also the tangled and crumpled leaves tend to go through thedisks in bunches which choke the disks and reduce the output of thecutter. I

I have discovered that the leaves in the condition in-which they issuefromstemmers of the type referred to in the patents and applicationabove identified, are in ideal condition for shredding in this type ofshredder and result in a quality of shreds not 'hitherto obtainable fromAmerican type leaves.

Thus the leaves delivered by the belt 25 and roll 28 into the disks 32of the shredding unit, are cleaned by the suction boxes 4 so that thedisks are not subject to wear from grit and sand on the leaves, and theleaves are in fiat outspread condition and are delivered edgewise andpreferably, though not necessarily, endwise relative to the plane of nipof the disks. Since the leaves are delivered endwise and there are fewfolds or doubled-over portions to the leaves, the majority of the shredsare as long as the portion of the leaf from which they are cut, that isthey average in length about the same as the average length of theleaves. Moreover, as compared with shreds ordinarily produced, beingrelatively free from kinks and sharp angles, the shreds are less liableto break into shorts. loose in with the compressedeake of leaves fedinto the Since the leaves are fed compressed condition, as compareddollars and the savings are particularly great in countries where-importduty and shipping raise the price to several dollars per pound. In thisconnection it should be noted that cigarettes are mainly judged so faras quantity of tobacco is concerned by their appearance and feeling offirmness and by their plumpness rather than their actual weight, and bythe firm appearance of the ends and the resistance of the ends to thedropping of shreds and crumbs of tobacco. Also in modern packersdetectors having spring pressed pins such as disclosed in U. S. PatentNo. 1,682,464 to Arelt are used which engage the ends of the cigarettesand'firmness of the ends in resisting these detectors results in fewercigarette packages being rejected because of cigarettes having looseends, all desirable results enhanced by the presentmethod and apparatusfor preparing and handling tobacco.

The leaves may be aided in their progress through the cutter disks bysuction from below the disks, drawing a current of air from abovethrough the casing 36 and into one of the peripheral compartments of asuction drum 31 rotated by a sprocket 38 around stationary suctionchamber 39 connected to a suction pipe 40. This suction may be dispensedwith in some forms of the invention and the shreds dropped by gravity.

The chamber 39 has an opening 4| registering with the radial partitionsof one of the compartnients of drum 31 when in its receiving positionfacing the shredding knives. The bottom of radial wall 31a of thecompartments is of perforated or sieve construction to pass air but nottobacco. After a half-turn of drum 31, the contents of each compartmentdrops into a chute 42 which empties into a drying tower 43 on the floorbelow. The partition walls of drum 31 constitute locks against theheated air rising from the drying tower into chute 42, and said drumserves to separate the tobacco from the air current through the diskblades, and also to remove dust. A cylindrical casing 3 5a communicatingwith chute l2 surrounds the drum 3'! to prevent loss of tobacco from thefilled compartments of the drum 31.

In tower 43, Fig. l, the tobacco shreds T are carried over a series ofsuperimposed horizontal perforated belts ll, exposed to the dryingaction of heated air admitted by the inlet 45 and leaving by outlet 43.Alternate belts have their ends projecting beyond and travel in oppositedirections from the remaining belts so'that one delivers to the nextone.

The lowermost ofjthe belts 44 discharges the dried shreds into. thepockets of a conveyor 41 which carries them to a cooling tower 43 inwhich on similarly arranged belts 4! they are exposed One percent savingin the to conditioned air entering at the inlet 50. The lowermost of thebelts. deposits the shreds, which now contain the proper amount ofmoisture for use in cigarette making, upon an endless bent 5l whichcarries them to trucks or a conveyor system for transporting the tobaccoto the cigarette machines.

Thus, a continuously operating unitary tobacco handling and preparingmethod and system for supplying shredded cigarette tobacco from wholetobacco leaves is provided. It is particularly noted that the onefeeding operation of laying out the leaves from hands of tobacco,approximately parallel with their butts toward the stemming unit is theonly manual operation on the leaves required for cleaning, spreadingout, stemming, blending, conditioning for cutting, feeding to theshredder, drying and cooling. Also, that only one main conditioning ormoistening operation prior tofeeding to the stemming unit is required,the conditioning. operation at 26 being merely a supplementary one forvarying more or less slightly the moisture content to that found bestfor cutting, as hereinafter pointed out. Casing or flavoring units mayalso be included in this unitary system.

While the several units and operations above referred to have beendescribed by way of example in combination, it is obvious that some ofthese units are useful in lesser or sub-combinations, or by themselves,and such use is contemplated. Moreover, some manufacturers will want toarrange some of the units in a different order or to eliminate some.Accordingly, the invention is not to be understood as being limited toany particular combination of units or operations except insofar asspecified in the claims.

When machine blending is not desired or when operating on a smallerscale, a modified arrangement (Fig. 7), utilizing single stemming unitsmay be employed to produce the desired leaf arrangement and condition onthe feed belt of the shredding machine. The leaves in this case aretransferred to the collecting belt 52, Fig. 7, by means of an auxiliarysuction belt 53, arranged as shown in the patent application aboveidentified, which transfers the leaf from the under side of: a suctionbelt 53 to belt 52, under said suction belt in the same manner astransfer is made from belt I to belt 8. The belt 52 then carries theblended leaves flat and outspread in an endwise direction through theconditioning chamber 26 and delivers them to the shredding knives 32, inthe same inanner as belt 25 above.

In Fig. 8, a number of stemming units Ul, U2, etc., each provided withan auxiliary suction belt "53, are grouped side by side and thecollecting belt 25 is run at right angles below the individual auxiliarybelts 53. The belt 25 may then carry the leaves into a guillotine typecutter -as shown' in Fig. 9, wherein the crosswise arrangement of theleaves arranges the same parallel to the cut of the transverselyextending conventional guillotine knife 55 which cuts transverselyacross the stream of compacted tobacco fed thereto, to make long, moreuniform shreds than the usual guillotine cutter to which crumpled leavesare fed more or less at random.

In the modified arrangement shown in Fig 9, the leaves L emerging fromthe conditioning chamber 26, either lengthwise from the arrangement ofFig. 2 or crosswise as in Fig. 8, but preferably crosswise, are carriedby the end roller 21 of collector belt 25' into a reciprocating tobaccocutter 54 of the guillotine type in which the vertical knife 55 havingits edge transverse to the stream of leaves L actuated by a pitman 56driven by an eccentric on drive pulley 51, shred them horizontally.

The shreds T dropping from a chute 58 are carried bya conveyor 59 into acasing drum 66 in which they are sprayed by a pipe 6| connected to atank 62 containing the usual casing fluid or a suitable flavoring liquidor both. The drum B6 rests on rollers 63 and is rotated by gears 64 and65 driven by bevel gears 66 and 61. From the drum 60, the flavoredshreds T are discharged into chute 42 through which theydrop into thedrying tower 43, whence they are carried by the conveyor 41 to theconditioning tower 48 and are finally delivered to the conveyor belt 5|as before.

It will be obvious from the above that many of the advantages resultingfrom the cleaned outspread flat and uniformly positioned leaves will beof value in cutting leaves with the guillotine type cutter for the samereasons.

While it is preferred to feed the leaves endwise to the cutter disks sothat the disks may shear or slit the leaves lengthwise of their lengthand direction of movement, many of the advantages other than extremelength of shreds will be retained if the outspread leaves are fedcrosswise, so vthat it is contemplated that the simpler arrangement ofFig. 8 may deliver to the disk type cutter shown in Fig. 2; also thecasing or flavoring unit shown in Fig. 9 may be positioned with its feedbelt 59 under the drum 3! to receive shreds therefrom.

In connection with the delivery of the leaves to the gangs of diskknives, it is noted that the disks rotate with much higher'surface speedat the cutting parts than the conveyor 25 and rolls 28 and 35, all lessthan a leaf length from the nipping point where the disks come togetherand thus these parts 25, 28 and 35 act to retard the trailing part ofthe leaf while the leading part is passing into the disks and therebystraighten the leaf and hold it taut and fiat.

The gripper mechanism of the type of stemming unit selected forillustration, though other types may be used, is illustrated in Fig. 10.The

leaves are fed by their butts through the cleaning and leaf spreadingand straightening chambers. As shown in the figure, a current of air isdirected from the stem portion of the blades 'or' which are pivoted onpins 68 attached to bars 69 fastened at spaced intervals across thechains 2,

the holder of each jaw carrying a roller 10. The

grippers 3 are periodically held open for a short timeby cam pieces IIand 72,'Fig. 1, with which the rollers 10' engage near the ends of thlower loops of chains 2 to allow the stems S of the leaves L to passinto the jaws, and again at the upper ends of the chains to release theleaf butts.

As shown in Figs. 11 and 12, the straightened and cleaned leaves Lcarrried by the belts 8 and M, are stemmed by tearing the stem from theleaf blade from tip to butt and for this purpose are received by aperforated drum 13, Fig. 11, revolving on a stationarysuction chamber 14connected to suction pipe 6 by a pipe 15. Upon being carried by the drums intfififitgct with the co-acting drum H, the stem S off pressed intoone of a's'eries of annular grooves e leaf L is' 16 into which theperiphery of drum I3 is divided, whereupon a pin or gripper element 11,Fig. 12, projecting into that groove through a radial slot in drum l3from a horizontal plunger 18, clamps it against a partition of groove16.

The drum l3 carries plungers 18 about its circumference, the plungershaving pins 11 in the groove 16 so that, as the drums I3 and 13 ad--vance together, the stem S gripped by the respective pins 11 actingagainst the opposed wall of the grooves I6, the plungers 18 being forcedaxially by springs 19 when released by a stationary cam 80 which holdsthe grooves open until the stems have entered. As soon as a sufi'icientlength of stem S has been inserted into the grooves 16 to be securelyheld therein, the drums I3 and 13 momentarily draw apart to permit astripping roller 8| to enter between the stem and the leaf which by thistime is held on drum 13 by belt l4. Therapidly rotating roller 8| aidsin cleanly separating the stem from the leaf as they are drawn forwardin unison by the drums l3 and 13. The stemmed leaf L, still outspread,since this type of stemmer maintains the leaf spread, is carried away bybelt I 4 while the stem S is ejected from the drum l3 by an oppositelyrevolving star wheel 82. v

The means and steps above referred to may be widely varied inconstruction within the scope of the claims, without departing from theinvention, for the particular means and steps and combinations thereofselected to illustrate the invention are but few out of many possibleconcrete embodiments of the same; furthermore, certain of the means andsteps referred to are useful by themselves or in separatesub-combinations from the general combination illustrated and suchseparate use is contemplated; The invention therefore is not to berestricted to the particular structure and steps shown and described;

In connection with the conditioning chamber 26, it is noted that it issometimes quite important that the leaves be dried before shredding.This is because certain of the operations on the tobacco leaves, priorto shredding, particularly stemming, require quite moist condition ofthe leaves. It has been found that the same moisture content does notresult in satisfactory shredding because of too great a tendency to gumup the shredder disks. With the construction illustrated therefore theleaves may be stemmed at the proper moistness, and then shredded whenrelatively dry, without the interposition of any manual orderingoperation.

Since the operation of the mechanisms. and methods disclosed has beenfully described in connection with the description of the several partsor steps thereof, for brevity, and to avoid repetition additionaldescription of the operation is omitted.

What is claimed is:

1. Tobacco treating apparatus comprising in combination, cooperatingmeans for stemming while outspread, to said stemming means, mechanism totransfer the stemmed leaves from said stemming means to a shreddingstation, and means to receive and shred the cleaned an stemmed leaveswhile still outspread.

2. Tobacco treating apparatus comprising in a unitary machine structurecooperating means for stemming leaves and means for outspreading andcleaning the leaves with the web portions thereof extended on both sidesof the stems before stemming, means for receiving and shredding theoutspread and stemmed leaves, and coordinated mechanism for successivelyforwarding tobacco leaves from said outspreading means into the range ofaction of said stemming means,

andfrom said stemming means into the range of action of said shreddingmeans.

3. Tobacco treating apparatus comprising in combination cooperatingmeans for stemming leaves and having automatic means for blending leavesof difierent characteristics, means receiving and shredding the blendedand stemmed leaves, and cooperating mechanism for successivelyforwarding tobacco leaves into the range of action of each of saidmeans.

4. Tobacco treating apparatus comprising in combination cooperatingmeans for stemming leaves and having means for reconditioning thestemmed leaves, means receiving and shredding the stemmed andreconditioned leaves, and cooperating mechanism for successivelyforwarding tobacco leaves into the range of action of said means. A

5. Apparatus combining in' a unitary system means for the continuoustreatment of initially unstemmed tobacco leaves to convert the sameint-o stemmed shreds suitable for tobacco filler,

said apparatus comprising cooperating means for stemming leaves, meansreceiving and shredding the stemmed leaves, means for adding casingfluid to the shreds, means for reconditioning said cased shreds, andmechanisms coordinated with said several means for respectivelyforwarding tobacco leaves into the range of action of said stemmingmeans, and from said stemmingmeans to said shredding means, from saidshredding means to said casing means, and from said casing means 'tosaid reconditioning means.

6. Tobacco treating apparatus comprising in combination cooperatingmeans for stemming leaves, and means receiving and shredding the stemmedleaves, said stemming means having multiple stemming devices and acoacting collecting device arranged in receiving position with respectto said devices for blending leaves of different characteristics.

'7. Tobacco treating apparatus comprising in combination cooperatingmeans for stemming leaves, and means receiving and shredding the stemmedleaves, said stemming means having multiple stemming devices arranged inechelon and a coacting obliquely arranged collecting belt arranged inreceiving position relativelyto said devices for blending leaves ofdiflerent characteristics.

8. Tobacco treating apparatus comprising in combination cooperatingmeans for stemming leaves, means receiving and shredding the stemmedleaves, said stemming means having a leaf conditioning chamberthroughlwhich the stemmed leaves pass on their way to said shreddingmeans, and cooperating mechanism for successively forwarding tobaccoleaves into the range of action of each of said means.

9. Tobacco treating apparatus comprising in combination cooperatingmeans for stemming leaves, mechanism for spreading tobacco leaves anddelivering them to said stemming means in outspread condition, with thelaminae extended on both sides of the stem, means receiving andshredding the stemmed leaves, said stemming means being arranged todeliver and said shredding means being arranged to receive the stemmedleaves in outspread condition, and cooperating mechanism forsuccessively forwarding tobacco leaves into the range of action of eachof said means,

l0fTobacco treating apparatus comprising in combination cooperatingmeans for stemming leaves, means receiving and shredding the stemmedleaves, said shredding means having a suction drum controlling thedelivery of leaves thereto, and cooperating mechanism for successivelyforwarding tobacco leaves into the range of action of each of saidmeans.

11. Tobacco treating apparatus comprising in combination cooperatingmeans for stemming leaves, and means receiving and shredding the stemmedleaves, said stemming means having a belt positioned to receive theleaves from said stemming means and deliver them to said shreddingmeans, whereby the stemmed leaves are delivered to said shredding means.

12. Tobacco treating apparatus comprising in combination cooperatingmeans for stemming leaves, means receiving and shredding the stemmedleaves, said shredding means having means for producing a down currentof air therethrough, and cooperating mechanism for successivelyforwarding tobacco leaves into the range of action of each of saidmeans.

13. Tobacco treating apparatus of the class described, having thefeatures claimed in claim 5, in which said reconditioning means includesdrying means for said fluid-cased shreds having a plurality ofsuperposed horizontal perforated belts discharging shreds one toanother, and cooperating mechanism for passing air successively upwardthrough said perforated belts and the shreds in course of transferdownward thereon.

14. Tobacco treating apparatus having the features claimed in claim 3,in which said means for shredding leaves is combined with a pneumaticleaf spreader presenting leaves thereto in outspread condition.

15. Tobacco treating apparatus combining in a unitary system cooperatingmeans for stemming leaves, means for blending said stemmed leaves,mechanism for transferring said stemmed leaves to said blending means,said blending means including a plurality of leaf forwarding devices forsuccessively forwarding tobacco leaves; shredding means; and mechanismfor receiving said blended stemmed leaves and transferring them to saidshredding means, including a single conveyor extending past the deliveryends of said forwarding means to receive and combine a plurality ofstreams of tobacco leaves to mechanically blend the same and deliver ablended stream into position to be shredded.

.16. Tobacco treating apparatus combining in a unitary system adapted tooperate continuously means for stemming tobacco leaves, coordinated withmeans for blending leaves, means receiving and shredding the blendedleaves, means for receiving and drying the blended shreds, andcoordinating mechanisms for successively forwarding tobacco leaves intothe range of action of each of said means.

17. Tobacco treating apparatus means and mechanisms combined in aunitary system and coordinated for continuous operacomprising tion,including means for blending leaves, means comprises stemming andspreading tobacco leaves,

ating mechanisms for successively forwarding tobacco leaves into therange of action of each of said means.

18. The continuous process of preparing tobacco which comprises stemmingand spreading tobacco leaves, cleaning both sides of said leaves,forwarding the outspread, stemmed leaves in succession to a shreddingstation, and shredding said stemmed leaves while still in outspreadcondition.

19. The process of preparing tobacco which shredding the outspreadstemmed leaves, and drying the outspread stemmed leaves beforeshredding.

20. The combination with a tobacco stemmer from which the stemmed leavesare delivered in a predetermined relative position with respect to theirdirection of movement, of a tobacco shredder, and a traveling conveyormeans for receiving the stemmed leaves from the stemmer in saidpredetermined relative position and acting to transport the stemmedleaves into said shredder while retaining said relative position.

21. The combination with a tobacco stemming unit, of a shredderunit,'means for feeding leaves endwise through said stemming unit,traveling conveyor mechanism receiving said endwise moving leaf anddelivering it endwise to said shredder, and rotary means forinsertingthe leaves under control endwise into the shredder.

22. The combination with a tobacco leaf stemming unit, of a tobaccoshredder unit comprising interengaging gangs of disks, traveling meanscoacting with said units to advance the stemmed leaves from saidstemming unit, said traveling means including a rotary device to insert.the stemmed leaves directly into said shredding unit while maintainingthe length of the leaves in the same position relative to theirdirection'of movement as received.

23. The combination with a stemmer for tobacco leaves, a tobaccoshredder, means cooperating with said stemmer to clean the leaves, andtraveling conveyor means for receiving the cleaned and stemmed tobaccodirectly from said stemming and cleaning means, said traveling conveyormeans including a rotary device for inserting said leaves directly intosaid shredder.

24. The combination with a tobacco cutter having intermeshing rotatingshredding disks, of mechanism feeding leaves to said disks includingmeans retarding the movement of the traveling portion of the leafrelative to the leading portion as the samepasses into the cutting disksto straighten the leaves, said means comprising a leaf conveyorextending to within less than a leaf length from the cutting location,and having a surface speed less than that'of the disks, and a leafpresser holding the leaves against said conveyor as they pass into saidcutter.

25. The combination with a leaf shredder, of traveling feeding means forfeeding leaves to said shredder, and a leaf spreader, including mea tisfor directing a stream of air from the midportion of eachleaf towardopposite edges thereof, so that the web portions on both sides of theleaf stem are fully extended away from said stem and both faces of eachweb portion are subjected to the cleaning action-of said air stream,said feed means including a traveling gripper for gripping the leaves byone end and drawing them fioatingly through said air stream prior toshredding. 7 V

26. The combination with a leaf shredder, of

stemming means, means to subject said leaf to an air blast operating toclean each face of the leaf and to spread each web thereof symmetricallyoutward from the stem, traveling feeding mechanism for feeding leavesfrom said stemmer to said shredder, so that the web portions thereof onboth sides of the leaf stems are fully extended away from said stems andare advanced fioatingly by said feeding means while being outspread,cleaned and stemmed.

27. The combination with pneumatic means for spreading leaves byextending both web portions thereof away on both sides of the stemfloatingly and cleaning both extended faces thereof, of a rotary diskshredder, and means for inserting said spread and cleaned leavesdirectly into said shredder under pneumatic control.

28. The combination with means for spreading wrinkled or ropy tobaccoleaves, with their webs extending on both sides of their stems, of arotary intermeshing disk cutter, and rotary mechanism transferring saidleaves directly into said cutter while still outspread.

29. The combination with atobacco shredder, of means for spreadingtobacco leaves with their webs extended on both sides of their stems,means for stemming said tobacco leaves, mechanism for delivering thembutt first with lengths uniformly arranged to extend substantially inone direction, traveling mechanism supporting and conveying the stemmedwebs of said leaves from said stemming means in parallel disposition tosaid shredder, and rotary means for inserting said parallel webs of theleaves into said shredder while preserving said uniform arrangement.

30. The combination with pneumatic means for spreading tobacco leaveswith their webs extending from both sides oftheir stems, floatingly inan air flow acting to clean said tobacco leaves the latter beinguniformly arranged with their lengths extending in one direction, of "arotary disk shredder, and traveling means for feeding said spread andcleaned leaves to said shredder, said means including rotar mechanismfor maintaining said webs in parallel uniform arrangement up to theshredder and also during passage into and through the shredder.

31. The combination with a tobacco stemmer, of a leaf shredder forshredded tobacco, conveyor means for transporting tobacco from saidstemmer to said shredder, and a leaf conditioner for varying themoisture content of the stemmed leaves on their Way to the shredder.

32. A stemming and blending mechanism for cigarette tobacco leavescomprising a plurality of stemming units for stemming the differentvarieties of tobacco leaves to be blended, means coacting with saidunits to receive the stemmed leaves from each of said stemming machinesand forward them in a single stream of blended leaves, and a tobaccoshredder cooperating with said means to shred said stream.

33. A stemming and blending mechanism for cigarette tobacco leavescomprising a plurality of stemming machines for stemming a pluralitydisks arranged to shred said blended tobacco.

34. A unitary cigarette tobacco leaf preparing mechanism, comprising incombination a tobacco leaf stemmer, a cutter for cutting tobacco leavesinto shreds for cigarette making, and a drier for drying the stemmed andshredded tobacco,

means for feeding stemmed tobacco leaves from the stemmer into thecutter, and. the shredded tobacco from the cutter into the dryer, andmeans for applying flavoring to the tobacco intermediate said cutter anddryer.

35. A unitary cigarette tobacco leaf preparing mechanism, comprising incombination a leaf cutter for cutting tobacco leaves into shreds forcigarette making, and a dryer for drying the shredded tobacco, rotarymeans for inserting the tobacco directly into the cutter elements, andmeans for discharging the shredded tobacco directly from the cutter intothe dryer, said dryer comprising a chamber adapted to receive a dryingmedium and a series of conveyors arranged one under the other, alternateconveyors travel-' ing in the opposite direction from the remainingconveyors and delivering thereon to give the shredded tobacco a zigzagpath through the chamber with a minimum tumbling of the tobacco.

36. The combination with devices for feeding tobacco leaves by thebutts, of means for directing a stream of air transversely along thesurface of said leaves during said forwarding, to

spread webs out floatingly from the stem, con.

veyor mechanism receiving the webs from said devices and advancing thesame in parallel sideby-side disposition, and tobacco shredding meansarranged in the path of advancing movement of said webs, including aknife movable transversely of the said path.

37. The combination with means for individually spreading out crumpledtobacco leaves and arranging them in substantially the same plane withthe web portions of the leaves extending from both sides of said stem,of a tobacco shredder, and rotary mechanism for inserting the spread andarranged leaves edgewise directly into the cutting members of saidshredder under con- 38. The combination with a tobacco leaf shredderhaving interengaging rotating gangs of spaced disks between which theleaves are shredded, of means for feeding leaves in outspread conditionto said shredder including a traveling suction leaf feeding meansarranged to hold the leaves outspread as they pass into the shredder.

39. The combination with a tobacco leaf shredder having interengagingrotating gangs of spaced disks between which the leaves are shredded, ofmeans for feeding leaves in outspread condition to said shredderincluding a rotating suction leaf feeding roll arranged to hold theleaves outspread as they pass into the shredder, and mechanism forcutting off the suction on said roll on the side facing the cuttingposition.

40. The combination with a tobacco leaf shredder, of leaf cleaningmeans, means for gripping tobacco leaves by their butts and carryingthem through said cleaning means, and conveyor mechanism for advancingthe cleaned leaves tip first to said shredder.

41. The combination with a leaf feed for feeding tobacco leaves by theirbutts, of a leaf stemmer, a leaf shredder to which leaves are deliveredfrom said stemmer, and means receiving the leaves from said feed anddelivering them tip first to said stemmer.

42. The combination with a cigarette tobacco shredder comprising gangsof spaced rotating shearing disks, of conveying means for advancingleaves to said shredder, and a leaf conditioner operating on the leaveson said conveying means to vary the moisture content thereof, said leafconditioner including means for heating said leaves to dry the same.

43. The combination with a tobacco stemmer, of a tobacco leaf feedacting to feed leaves one by one to said stemmer, means coacting withsaid leaf feed to spread the leaves out fiat for stemming and shreddin atobacco shredder having opposed rotating gangs of disks with the disksof one gang in interengaging shearing contact with i the disks of theother gang and arranged to finely shread tobacco for filling cigarettes,and traveling conveyor means for receiving tobacco leaves from saidstemmer and delivering them edgewise into said shredder while retainingthe leaves in flat outspread condition.

44. The combination witha tobacco stemmer, of a tobacco leaf feed actingto feed leaves one by one to said stemmer, means coacting with said leaffeed to spread the leaves out flat for stemming and shredding, a tobaccoshredder having opposed rotating gangs of disks with the disks of onegang in interengaging shearing contact with the disks of the other gangand arranged to finely shred tobacco for filling cigarettes, travelingconveyor means for receiving tobacco leaves from said stemmer anddelivering them edgewise into said shredder while retaining the leavesin flat outspread condition, and a leaf drying device coacting with saidconveyor means to reduce substantially the moisture content of theleaves intermediate stemming and shredding.

45. The combination with a tobacco stemmer, of a tobacco leaf feedacting to feed leaves one by one to said stemmer, means coacting withsaid leaf feed to spread the leaves out fiat for stemming and shredding,a tobacco shredder having opposed rotating gangs of disks with the disksof one gang in interengaging shearing contact with the disks of theother gang and arranged to finely shred tobacco for filling ciga- Irettes, traveling conveyor means for receiving tobacco leaves from saidstemmer and delivering them edgewise into said shredder while retainingthe leaves in flat outspread condition, and a leaf drying devicecoacting with said conveyor means to reduce substantially the moisturecontentof the leaves intermediate stemming and shredding, said leafspreading means including devices for subjecting said leaves to aircurrents directed along the surface of the leaves to clean and spreadthe same.

46. The combination with a tobacco shredder having opposed rotatinggangs of disks with the disks of one gang arranged in interengagingshearing contact with the disks of the other gang to finely shredtobacco into condition for filling cigarettes, of a tobacco leaf feedfor feeding leaves one by one, means coacting with'said leaf feed tospread the leaves out flat for shredding including devices forsubjecting said leaves to air currents directed along the surface of theleaves to clean and spread the same, and travsaid shredder to delivercleaned and outspread leaves edgewise into the nip of said disks.

RUPERT E. RUNDEIL.

